Steven Johnson: Where good ideas come from

7 Basic Things You Won't Believe You're All Doing Wrong If you're like us, you might sometimes have a problem with complex tasks, like trying to drive an ambulance and send a text message at the same time. But hey, at least most of us have figured out the simplest things that get us through the day, right? Except, you know, some of the simple things we've done every day of our lives, like ... If you don’t have a PLN, you don’t know what you’re missing!! « NovaNews Recently I was asked to write an article for an upcoming edition of Connections, a quarterly newsletter produced by the Schools Catalogue Information Service (SCIS), a business unit of Education Services Australia. Aiming to provide informative and useful material relevant to school libraries which helps keep library professionals up to date, Connections is distributed to all schools in Australia in both hard copy and digital formats. I was asked to write specifically about Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) both from a general and personal perspective. I found the process of putting my thoughts together both challenging and inspiring. Not all that long ago, I had never heard of PLNs. Today, I feel part of an amazing community and am unable to comprehend how I could be where I am today without the support and guidance of those in my PLN.

50 Life Secrets and Tips Memorize something everyday.Not only will this leave your brain sharp and your memory functioning, you will also have a huge library of quotes to bust out at any moment. Poetry, sayings and philosophies are your best options.Constantly try to reduce your attachment to possessions.Those who are heavy-set with material desires will have a lot of trouble when their things are taken away from them or lost. Possessions do end up owning you, not the other way around. Become a person of minimal needs and you will be much more content.Develop an endless curiosity about this world.Become an explorer and view the world as your jungle.

The Filter Bubble: How the Web Gives Us What We Want, and That's Not a Good Thing by Maria Popova How the web gives us what we want to see, and that’s not necessarily a good thing. Most of us are aware that our web experience is somewhat customized by our browsing history, social graph and other factors. 10 simple habits to improve self-esteem Low self-esteem is like driving through life with your handbreak on. – Maxwell Maltz There are tons of articles out there claiming capability to change your life for the better, but the truth is that it’s completely up to you. Or not. Tim Berners-Lee Sir Timothy John "Tim" Berners-Lee, OM, KBE, FRS, FREng, FRSA, DFBCS (born 8 June 1955),[1] also known as TimBL, is an English computer scientist, best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web. He made a proposal for an information management system in March 1989,[2] and he implemented the first successful communication between a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) client and server via the Internet sometime around mid-November of that same year.[3][4][5][6][7] Berners-Lee is the director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which oversees the Web's continued development. He is also the founder of the World Wide Web Foundation, and is a senior researcher and holder of the Founders Chair at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL).[8] He is a director of the Web Science Research Initiative (WSRI),[9] and a member of the advisory board of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence.[10][11] Early life

7 Essential Books on the Art and Science of Happiness by Maria Popova From Plato to Buddha, or what imperfection has to do with the neuroscience of the good life. If you, like me, are fascinated by the human quest to understand the underpinnings of happiness but break out in hives at the mere mention of self-help books, you’re in luck: I’ve sifted through my personal library, a decade’s worth of obsessive reading, to surface seven essential books on the art and science of happiness, rooted in solid science, contemporary philosophy and cross-disciplinary insight. From psychology and neuroscience to sociology and cultural anthropology to behavioral economics, these essential reads illuminate the most fundamental aspiration of all human existence: How to avoid suffering and foster lasting well-being. The question of what makes us happy is likely as old as human cognition itself and has occupied the minds of philosophers, prophets and scientists for millennia.

The Rise of the Toilet Texter We know where some of you are reading this. A recently released survey of the mobile phone habits of Americans, going where few other surveys care to go, has found that 75 percent of the populace have used their mobile devices while on the toilet. Among those aged 28 to 35, the figure is 91 percent. The survey of 1,000 people by the marketing agency 11mark found that private contemplation has given way to toilet-time talking, texting, shopping, using apps, or just surfing the Web, by both sexes and most ages. Among those 65 and older, however, only 47 percent have used their mobile devices on the toilet.

Top 40 Useful Sites To Learn New Skills The web is a powerful resource that can easily help you learn new skills. You just have to know where to look. Sure, you can use Google, Yahoo, or Bing to search for sites where you can learn new skills , but I figured I’d save you some time. Here are the top 40 sites I have personally used over the last few years when I want to learn something new. STEVEN JOHNSON & KEVIN KELLY in conversation with Robert Krulwich In a world of rapidly accelerating change, from iPads to eBooks to genetic mapping to MagLev trains, we can't help but wonder if technology is our servant or our master, and whether it is taking us in a healthy direction as a society. What forces drive the steady march of innovation?How can we build environments in our schools, our businesses, and in our private lives that encourage the creation of new ideas--ideas that build on the new technology platforms in socially responsible ways? Kevin Kelly and Steven Johnson will look at where technology is taking us. One of the co-founders of Wired Magazine, Kelly's new book, What Technology Wants, makes the argument that technology as a whole is not a jumble of wires and metal but a living, evolving organism that has its own unconscious needs and tendencies. KEVIN KELLY is Senior Maverick at Wired magazine.